The world is ending... the world is ending... but if the world is ending, that means it hasn't ended yet.  After seeing The Seat of Our Pants at The Public Theater (running thru at least the end of the month!), it's never been clearer that Thornton Wilder is America's great under-appreciated literary trickster. His keen playful writing combines magical realism, genre-busting humor, literary zip—and there are few people better suited to adapting Wilder than Ethan Lipton. He joins us this week alongside Jeremy McCarter, Wilder's literary executor, for a look into the man's genius, this play's still-vital themes, and why human art will always be the best thing about humanity. Speaking of humanity: contracts! Aron Solomon explains some of his recent piece, "Writers Beware: On the Dangerous Fine Print of Creative Contract Law" — and then Dayna Totorici of n+1 calls in to tease this year's Bookmatch quiz! (It's open now, you should do it, you should let Drew know what books you got.) See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

It's Halloween! Drew's favorite holiday! And so in lieu of a proper episode this week, here's Drew reading Edgar Allan Poe's "The Cask of Amontillado" — hope that's a treat and not a trick! See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Having done this show for a full year, it means we have some traditions now—and the first one we ever set up, really, was having Ryan Chapman (The Audacity, Riots I Have Known) to join Drew for a chat about the year's Booker Prize shortlist in advance of his big piece forthcoming in the Winter Issue of the Sewanee Review (SUBSCRIBE!)... so, that's basically this episode! They did it again, again recorded live at Rough Draft Bar & Books in Kingston, NY. Tune in for their predictions on the winner, their feelings about the year in fiction, their feelings about the Booker jury's feelings about the year in fiction, and ambient coffee-shop ASMR in the background! Plus, a voicemail from Nicole Brinkley about why we should bring back the mass-market paperback. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Would spooky season be complete with some Stephen King? Constant reader, I submit to you: no. This week, Caroline Bicks—the inaugural Stephen E. King Chair in Literature at the University of Maine—stops by to talk about the power of Stephen King's writing, whether read on the page or read aloud, and why he and Shakespeare have a whole lot in common. Consider it a sneak peek into Monsters in the Archives, her book about diving into Stephen King's archives that's out next spring. Then, Jaime Green joins Drew to shed some light on the mysterious nature (pun intended) of being Series Editor for The Best American Science & Nature Writing—because the next round of Best American titles comes out next Tuesday! Still no horror, or romance, but a boy can dream. Plus, at the top of the show, some shout-outs to the watery and the vampiric, the two trends Drew is noticing this October in spooky reading, best summed up by the perfectly-titled Vampires at Sea. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

What evil lurks in the hearts of men? The Shadow knows, but so too does Thomas Pynchon, we're pretty sure. This week, we're celebrating the latest from Pynchon with Devin Thomas O'Shea ("Thomas Pynchon Has Been Warning Us About American Fascism the Whole Time") and a wide-ranging conversation about the man's keen eye on American darkness—but before that, our own Oliver Scialdone drops by to chat splatterpunk and why oozy body horror deserves your attention. (Also, if you want to read Oliver's full essay about splatter, you might want to become a member...) Then, to wrap things up, Mattilda Bernstein Sycamore (Terry Dactyl) calls in to suggest some ways we might all get better at supporting one another and why feeling jealousy might be the right moment to get excited instead.  See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Spooky season is upon us! It's Drew's favorite month and he's got a whole stack of Hallow-reads to keep him company — which has him in generally good spirits (buhdumtshhh) about the future. This week, Hillary Brenhouse stops in to talk about launching ELASTIC, a new print magazine dedicated to psychedelic art and literature. Then, beloved illustrator Jon Klassen talks with Drew live at Rough Draft about the art of board books, why we should talk to kids about death, and letting go of projects that don't work. It's a fun one! See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Many of us were told or taught that the internet would be permanent — that the things we post, whether on social media or a blog or even a real-life website like Literary Hub, would last forever. But much of the last decade or so has proved that that's not true! Things can disappear at the blink of an eye — or the flash of a very rich person's temper. Maria Bustillos is no stranger to the disappearing internet, and she joins us this week to discuss her recent CJR piece "The Bigger Threat to Books Than Bans" as well as the hope provided by communally run organizations like Flaming Hydra. Then, a sneak peek at the latest addition to the Lit Hub Radio line-up: Culture Schlock, hosted by Olivia Rutigliano! We've got an exclusive excerpt from the first episode, featuring Samantha Hunt talking about discovering Nikola Tesla and the unfortunate dissonance of the poorly-run car company sharing his name. And finally, a phone call from Kate Broad (Greenwich) about the importance of third spaces! Hosted by Drew Broussard Music by Dani Lencioni of Evelyn A Lit Hub Radio Podcast See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Featuring Gretchen Felker-Martin, Erica Cerulo & Claire Mazur of 831 Stories, and a phone call from Chill Subs! It's a scary time to be speaking up for what we believe in, but these are the times when we must simply speak even louder in support of the good and just and right. Sometimes, that means calling it like it is when a hatemonger dies and standing firm in the face of ensuing vitriol and cowardice, like Gretchen Felker-Martin has done in the wake of being fired from DC (and having her whole comic line scrapped) for posting about another dead bigot — and sometimes, that's about raising up stories that forefront safety, consent, women's pleasure, and good design, like the novellas from 831 Stories. Sometimes, it's as simple as putting your money where your mouth is, like Chill Subs has done with the announcement of their first Lit Mag Incubator grantees! But no matter what: community. Community, community, community.  Hosted by Drew Broussard Music by Dani Lencioni of Evelyn A Lit Hub Radio Podcast See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Happy birthday to us, it's been a year since we launched The Lit Hub Podcast! Not that you'd know it, because Drew completely forgot and didn't include a word about it in the episode itself. But still, we're proud!! This week, Drew talks to Boris Kachka of The Atlantic about their new travel-writing series "The Writer's Way" (featuring the likes of Lauren Groff visiting Lady Murasaki's Kyoto and Honor Jones in le Carré's Corfu). Then, Allison Miriam Smith and Brandon Taylor drop by to chat about why they launched Smith & Taylor Classics and how they're putting together the colorful, playful, vibrant series of classics-in-conversation. And finally, to welcome "The World in Time" to the Lit Hub Radio family, an excerpt from a recent episode to whet your whistle. The Lit Hub Podcast is a production of Lit Hub Radio Hosted by Drew Broussard Music by Dani Lencioni of Evelyn Produced and engineered at Stardust House See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

September means back-to-school! Hooray for learning! Hooray for fall! There's definitely not anything bad or weird going on as relates to education, the weather, spooky season, or anything else... First up this week, Joelle Renstrom talks with Drew about being a teacher in 2025 and her recent essay for the site about Cliffs Notes. Then, Molly Odintz joins Drew to chat with Max Booth III about Ghoulish Books in San Antonio getting harassed by MAGA types for a saucy chalkboard and, more broadly, about the state of horror in these horrifying times. Finally, Michael Kelly (publisher of Undertow Publications) calls in from Canada to give listeners some updates on what's going on with shipping between Canada (or, really, everywhere...) and the US. Oh also, Drew's book rec of the week: The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie by Muriel Spark, now available as an Olive Edition! See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Superheroes are back, baby! You will believe a man can fly — but did you know that such things were happening in the decades before Siegel and Schuster created Kal-El in 1938? Joshua Glenn, editor of Before Superman: Superhumans of the Radium Age and overall series editor of MIT Press's Radium Age Science Fiction series, stops by to tell Drew about the Radium Age of SF and discovering all these proto-supermen (and women!) for this new collection. Then, Diana Arterian drops in to chat about The Annotated Nightstand and gets some of Drew's TBR out of him. Also, they come up with a great idea for a holiday stream that interested parties should definitely tell Drew they're excited by. And finally, a call from fellow bookseller and novelist Mo Daviau (author of Epic and Lovely, out next week!) about a particular bookselling challenge... Oh, also, a shout-out to Andrew Kaufman's Enjoy Your Stay at the Shamrock Motel! See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Oh summer colds, you might be the worst kind of cold. But that won't stop The Lit Hub Podcast!  This week, as we celebrate the dog days of summer, Brittany Allen drops by to tell Drew about curating Lit Hub's ongoing, weekly list of nice things. Then, an intro (for those who don't already know them!) to Lit Hub Radio stalwarts Fiction/Non/Fiction with an excerpt from their recent interview with Gary Shteyngart. And finally — in more ways than one — we're opening up our phone lines! We want to hear from you! Our first caller is Maggie Smith, the new host of The Slowdown!  See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Drew's been working on (gasp) a novel and it seems to be going well (because saying so certainly won't jinx it) so this week is a bit of writer-work-focused! Kicking off with a shout to Ursula K. Le Guin's Steering the Craft, we are then joined by Erin Somers (author of Stay Up with Hugo Best and the forthcoming The Ten Year Affair but also a reporter & editor at Publishers Lunch) to explain the one-stop-publishing-shop that is Publishers Marketplace—you know, with the deal announcements you see your writer-friends posting on Instagram? Then, an excerpt of Jonny Diamond's conversation with Maris Kriezman on the last stop of Maris's book tour for I Want to Burn This Place Down, recorded live at the Northern Spy Reading Series at Left Bank Ciders in Catskill, NY. And finally, James Folta pops in with a quick update on why more than half of the longlisted authors have withdrawn from this year's Polari Prize. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Summer, to me, means long days and hanging out in nature and Shakespeare — specifically Shakespeare in the Park. After James Folta wrote about NYC Comptroller Brad Lander's sonnet for the ribbon cutting at the revamped Delacorte Theater in Central Park, his office reached out to remind us that the Comptroller has done this multiple times now... and so obviously, Drew had to talk to him about diving into the poetic form and the power of art to build empathy in these otherwise selfish times. Then, Stefan Tobler (publisher of & Other Stories) drops in to tell Drew what it's like to be a small press that wins a big prize — and why it is that copies of 2025 International Booker Prize winner Heart Lamp have taken so long to reach US bookshops. Plus, a quick love letter to a recent read: Strange and Perfect Account from the Permafrost! See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

We're back from our lil summer break and shaking off the rust! It's been hot, but getting maybe better—and we're trying to take the slow pace and the long view before we truly roll into the fall. Speaking of: what are you reading for the rest of the summer? Perhaps try the Sealey Challenge (all funds this year going to the Sameer Project)! Or start reading the Booker Prize longlist! Also, you could pick up an old issue of Lapham's Quarterly to get in the mood for the storied mag's revival—and we have acting editor Donovan Hahn on the show to tell us more about that slow pace, that long view, and the future of Lapham's. Or perhaps you're feeling like it's a real socialist gothic summer—and McKayla Coyle is here to chat with Drew about the socialist fundamentals of gothic literature and the very specific burgeoning sub-genre that is Socialist Gothic. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Halfway through the year means it's time to anticipate again! That's right: the Lit Hub staff has compiled a list (multiple lists, actually) of books you should be looking forward to for the rest of the calendar year—and now we bring you a bunch of staff members talking about some (some!) of the books they're most excited for. Featuring (in order of appearance): Drew Broussard, Jonny Diamond, Julia Hass, Brittany K. Allen, McKayla Coyle, Calvin Kasulke, Jessie Gaynor, Dan Sheehan, Emily Temple, James Folta, and Drew again (because he is just that excited about SO MANY BOOKS). Lit Hub's Most Anticipated Books of 2025, Part Two Our 33 Most Anticipated Sci-Fi, Fantasy, and Horror Books for the Rest of 2025 The Most Anticipated Crime Fiction of Summer 2025 See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

"...that government of the people, by the people, for the people shall not perish from this earth." No, Lincoln didn't say that on July 4th—but Jefferson was a racist and Adams wasn't all that inspiring a speaker ("sit down, John!") and we certainly aren't going to quote Hamilton (the guy or the show). Anyway, not a real episode this week—just a little holiday note and an acknowledgement that after next week's Most Anticipated audio, we'll be taking a two week break and coming back in August! See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

We're riding the high of something going right in the world (see: NYC's mayoral primary) and leaning mostly into hijinks and happiness this week—but not before we remind you all of the very real stakes facing artists of all stripes right now, the frankly-existential threat that is generative AI. First up, Brittany Cavallaro drops by to introduce the "Against AI" open letter that Lit Hub just published. Then, Calvin Kasulke hosts a rollicking conversation with Cat Fitzpatrick and Casey Plett about LittlePuss Press, trans publishing, and what it's like to run a small press. Finally, Drew chats with McKayla Coyle and Oliver Scialdone about fan-fiction in a conversation with perhaps more giggles-per-minute than any we've yet aired on the show. Maybe. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Community. Community, community, community, now more than ever. We kick things off this week with a special guest: Leila Green Little, lead plaintiff in the ongoing Little v. Llano County book-banning case, chats with both Drew and Anthony Aycock, whose piece about the case ran this week on the site. Then, Drew talks to Benjamin Davis of Chill Subs about their Lit Mag Incubator Program that's going to give away $1000 a piece to five lit mags who need it. And finally, a little suggestion to read Diana Oh's My H8 Letter to the Great American Theater and to hug the people you love. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Oh another bad week in the world, and what's a book podcast to do but... talk about Hamlet! Seriously, though: theater belongs in the literary conversation and there's something about the confluence of text and audio that we obviously take very seriously here at Literary Hub or else we wouldn't be doing this podcast! So, this episode is primarily Make Believe Association's Jeremy McCarter sitting down with Drew for a warm reunion (they've known each other for a long, long time) and a discussion of MB's new production of Hamlet—which takes place entirely from the point of view of the prince. Yeah, it's very cool and you can listen to the whole thing now wherever you get your podcasts. Will it build empathy? Maybe. Will it teach you how to understand character and motivation and direction differently? Absolutely. Then, as a little treat, James Folta explains the difference between his book recommendations... and your book recommendations. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.